A city-based wholesale dealer of spices was arrested on Wednesday night from north-central Kolkata for allegedly selling adulterated cumin seeds, police said.
The cumin seeds were mixed with sulfa seeds which resemble cumin seeds and is used as cow feed, the police said.
Officers of the enforcement branch of the Kolkata police had on the basis of suspicion seized a large quantity of cumin seeds from Jay Hanuman Bhandar — a wholesale shop in Posta — in September this year.
The samples were sent to the laboratory for tests.
“The report shows that the cumin seeds sold at the shop were adulterated with sulfa seeds,” said an officer of the enforcement branch.
Based on the findings of the report, Rajendra Shaw, the wholesale dealer, was arrested by Jugal Kishore Dawn, the officer-in-charge of the food section of the enforcement branch, and produced before the Bankshal court on Thursday. Shaw has been remanded to police custody till November 1.
Preliminary inquiry by the food section of the enforcement branch has revealed that sulfa seeds are very cheap and is used for feeding cows. They are unfit for human consumption. The seeds are being smuggled to Bengal for Bihar for adulteration of cumin seeds, the police said.
“A large quantity of cumin seeds were being supplied to shops across this city from this wholesale dealer. According to government standards sulfa is declared unfit for human consumption and is banned to be used as an edible product,” said an officer.
Bidisha Kalita , the deputy commissioner of the enforcement branch, has been monitoring several operations against adulterated food and spices in the city, sources said.
Test reports for some other seizures are awaited, sources in enforcement branch said.